1) Introduction from the Chair
David Fowler
Axiom continues to develop and refine its
approach to attaining and reporting Value for
Money, and this year’s report reflects our
progress in both areas.
With regard to attainment, I am pleased to be able to report that
we achieved and exceeded our VFM targets as set out in last year’s
report, returning a total gain of £627,000 compared to a target of
£573,000.

David Fowler
Chair

Our work on understanding and evaluating
the Social Value of our work continues and we
have now published our first Social Value
report, in collaboration with Peterborough City
Council, demonstrating that every £1 spent on
our academy training and developing young
people contributes £8 in benefits downstream.

The operating margin of the association, a
key performance measure of overall
effectiveness for our teams, also improved
from 23.8% to 24.4%. In addition:
82% of tenants believe their rent
provides Value for Money.

Areas for improvement next year are our
customer satisfaction in addressing anti-social
behaviour and the cost per property of
housing management services, both of which
are well in hand and should be reflected in
next year’s report.

74% of tenants believe their service
charge provides Value for Money.
I am particularly gratified with the
continuing efficiency and effectiveness of
our customer facing services and in
particular our repairs and maintenance
services, retaining their top quartile rating
along with our current rent arrears
collection performance.

As an organisation with a significant
proportion of supported housing and,
increasingly, care services as part of its
turnover, we are particularly mindful of the
relationship between overheads and turnover.

This year’s report also demonstrates our
progress in measuring and understanding
the value of our assets. In 2013-14 we
reported upon our approach for monitoring
the returns delivered across our housing
stock by asset type and location. This year
we are now able to report on the value of
our assets and analyse them by residents’
satisfaction, stock turnover and thermal
efficiency. During 2014-15 we have seen an
improvement in overall returns increasing
from 10.7% to 11.4%.

As a Board we have accepted that our relative
performance in this area may decline in the
next two years as our care service expands,
adding significantly to turnover, but also
diluting our group operating margin.

3

Our Value for Money
priorities for 2015/16
Throughout this report we adjusted
our projections of returns and
income following the Government’s
July budget and the proposed rent
cut of 1% for the next four years.
In practice, the cut will reduce our planned
income by 16% from 2016–2020. Achieving
and maintaining Value for Money (VFM) is a
key objective for the association and it is a
feature of our 2015-2020 corporate
strategy.
We have begun reviewing our VFM priorities
following the July budget and our strategic
response is set out below:

To remain STRONG &
SUCCESSFUL
We believe there is strength and benefit to
residents and stakeholders in maintaining a
strong, independent, diverse, values-driven
housing association.

To provide VALUE FOR MONEY
and SOCIAL VALUE
We will maintain our commitment to
providing outstanding services and
continuous improvement at affordable cost
to our residents, delivering VFM and
providing Social Value.

To remain a strong and successful
organisation, Axiom must be financially
viable and be able to provide assurance to
regulators, funders and partners. With this
objective we have prioritised the following
financial objectives:

Axiom has always been able to demonstrate
VFM in the context of peer benchmarking
and Social Value contribution, the new
financial environment will require us to
deliver further economies in our activities in
the future and will prompt a review on the
range of Social Value activities we
undertake.

We will ensure all loan covenants to be
complied with are monitored and
reported quarterly.
We will strengthen our balance sheet
with regular reviews of the value and
efficiency of our assets.

Whilst making savings in operating costs will
be an emphasis within our plans, we propose
to establish an ‘invest to save’ programme
to identify further efficiencies by working in
collaboration with others such as shared
services, or by reinvesting in areas of
activity that will deliver enhance
productivity.

We will review our treasury policy of
fixed rate costs as a proportion of total
borrowing.
Investment in robust technology
infrastructure is well advanced and remains
a key efficiency commitment, but must be
balanced with a need to reduce central
overheads.

4

Our Value for Money
priorities for 2015/16

continued

To BUILD on our STRENGTHS

To WORK TOGETHER

We will maintain our commitment to
building on our strengths and partnerships.
We will not develop and grow at all costs,
but grow organically, moving into services
and areas where appropriate. We will
continue to develop a balanced portfolio of
general needs and supported
accommodation.

We will remain an inclusive organisation,
putting our residents, service users and
customers at the centre of what we do to
ensure they have real influence on our
services. We are also committed to being
an exemplar employer.
Partnership working will play an important
role in efficiency reviews and options such as
shared services and service outsourcing will
be reviewed.

We will continue to develop our current HCA
funded programme to 2018, subject to a full
review of the viability of each scheme as a
consequence of the July 2015 budget. We
will continue to aspire to a shared
ownership and affordable rent portfolio with
an average yield of 4% per annum.

Further investment in new technology to
enable communication channels to be
widened to provide more services 24/7
through the use of the internet without
increasing employment costs.

We will look at further partnerships and
collaborations with other organisations to
create synergies, in line with our business
needs and cultural fit.

We shall work with our staff consultative
group (SCG) to review a package of
measures necessary to deliver cost savings
to in response to the changing economic
environment.

We will continue to create new homes
through the utilisation of our assets
including conversion, market rent, sale and
regeneration.

To build our COMMUNITY
COMMITMENT

Our objective to provide effective new
services shall be retained, subject to robust
financial and risk appraisals. We will
continue to be selective about the contract
services we will provide and limit these, so
as not to put our reputation or financial
viability at risk.

We recognise the importance of a local focus
and work actively with our local statutory
and voluntary partners to improve and
shape communities.
A shift of focus to community development
is planned for our resident involvement
going forward to assist with the
development of more resilient communities,
linking with our welfare reform strategy.

To provide DISTINCTIVE HOMES
and PERSON CENTRED services

We shall prioritise our objective to provide
photovoltaic panels, and continue to support
and encourage employees to engage in
recycling and sustainable travel as part of
our Social Value strategy.

We will provide more than just landlord
services because we care about the people
and places where we work. We will achieve
this objective by continually improving the
efficiency and effectiveness of our housing
and services.

We will continue to benchmark our
Value for Money (performance and
cost) with peer associations and report
annually on our Social Value
achievements as part of our Value for
Money report.

5

2) Self-assessment
summary
In accordance with the
regulatory standard on
Value for Money (VFM)
which came into effect on
1 April 2012, this report
is the fourth annual selfassessment of how the
association is achieving
Value for Money in
delivering its purpose and
objectives.
It sets out the range of
evidence that the Board have
considered in support of their
assessment of compliance with
the standard requirements,
including independent
benchmarking, internal
performance reports and
management accounts, tenant
feedback surveys, complaints
analysis and internal audit.

Alan Lewin
Chief Executive

Louise Platt
Corporate Services
Director

Areas requiring additional
investigation and analysis have
progressed satisfactorily and
as a consequence the
assurance that we can provide
in this report is considered to
have improved once again.
We have presented a summary
of the self-assessment
assurance rating arising
against each section of the
VFM standard according to the
following criteria below:

A definition of VFM in the context of the
organisation’s purpose and objectives
Registered providers shall articulate
and deliver a comprehensive
approach to achieving Value for
Money in meeting their objectives,
taking into account the interests of
and commitments to stakeholders.

The association’s strategic approach to
VFM and use of resources.
How they are achieving Value for
Money in delivering their purpose and
objectives.
A robust approach to making
decisions on the use of resources to
deliver the provider’s objectives,
including an understanding of the
trade offs and opportunity costs of its
decisions.
Understanding and optimising returns
from our assets.
An understanding of the return on
its assets, and a strategy for
maximising the future returns on
assets, measured against the
organisation’s purpose and
objectives.
The association’s arrangements to
ensure delivery of VFM.
That its performance management
and scrutiny functions are effective at
driving and delivering improved
performance with outcomes and
outputs clearly demonstrated.

What the organisation has achieved.
An understanding of the cost of
delivering specific services, which
underlying factors influence these
costs and how they do so, and how
costs relate to appropriate
benchmarks.

Assurance
Rating

Compliance
We have provided a comprehensive and
transparent report upon the range of our Value
for Money activities and outcomes.

STRONG

In particular we have investigated the
relatively high cost of some of our services
compared to peer organisations, explained
the basis of our costs relative to nondiversified and diversified organisations.
Identifying those areas where improvements
shall be made and those where we choose to
continue investment in order to meet our
strategic objectives.
GOOD

All Board decisions require presentation of VFM
issues for consideration. All members and staff
have received training.
In light of the 2015 budget, we have
undertaken a wide review of the business plan
to reprioritise the use of our more limited
resources in order to meet our key strategic
goals.

We have expanded upon our financial analysis
of return on assets across all of our housing
stock into areas of energy efficiency, tenant
satisfaction and stock turnover.

GOOD

We have examined our findings and have
begun to undertake option appraisals for those
estates or properties with below average
returns.

We have reported upon the outcomes of our
VFM service reviews and programme of
procurement, simplicity and impact assessment
reviews.

GOOD

We have embedded VFM into our corporate
strategy and staff competencies.
We have reported efficiency gains of 1.4%
(target 1.3%) and cash savings of 5.3%(target
4.9%) for 2014/15, which was overall 0.5%
ahead of our target performance.

STRONG

We have reviewed the performance of nine
different service areas over time and how
trends have improved or deteriorated.
All deteriorating or Q3/4 benchmarks have
been challenged and plans to improve (where
appropriate to our corporate objectives)
agreed.

Continued on page 8 …..
7

Self-assessment summary continued
Self assessment area (extract of VFM
standard requirement)
Measuring and knowing the Social Value of our
outputs.
How they are achieving Value for Money in
delivering their purpose and objectives.
A measurement of social returns arising from
the association’s activities.

The organisation’s plans for next year.
A rigorous approach to assessing options for
Value for Money improvement, including
where there are potential benefits in
alternative delivery models that may involve
partnerships, mergers and/or contracting with
third parties.

How the Board has gained assurance in respect
of the VFM self-assessment.
How they have gained assurance in reaching
their view on Value for Money.

Compliance

We have completed and published
our first Social Value report for
Axiom Academy demonstrating £8
of Social Value for each £1
invested.

Anticipated gains in 2015/16 are
projected to increase to 6.9% of
operating costs. We are undertaking a
shared services option review with
members of the 14 strong Blue Skies
consortia.

Through a detailed self-assessment
containing year on year trends and
projections within the annual VFM
report.

Following this robust assessment of the association’s performance, the Board conclude
that the association has good evidence to support compliance with the expected
outcomes of the VFM standard.

8

3) Value for Money
Service Reviews

We plot progress each
year using a VFM
dashboard which you will
see illustrated in the
service reviews that
follow.
Our objective is to bring
all services into the
green â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Good Performance
and Low Costâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; section of
the dashboard.
Each of these areas are
reported on and
monitored internally in
our annual VFM service
reviews.

Key to VFM Charts

As part of the benchmarking process we are
able to compare the cost
and performance of our
services against a peer
group of housing
associations ranging in
size from 1,000 housing
units to almost 30,000
units.

Actual Performance Quartile 4

Key to VFM Dashboards

We have used the
Southern Traditional
HouseMark
benchmarking analysis
since 2008/09 to
challenge costs and
performance outcomes
compared to peers and
to analyse trends over
time in order to shape
targets for improvement
in the future.

A summary of the
actual and projected
findings from this
exercise is given
throughout Section 3.

Performance
2014/15 was an excellent
year of repairs performance
cementing our position as a
top quartile performer allied
with a low cost, efficient
service with over 99% of
responsive repairs being
carried out on time.

Good
Performance
Low Cost
3
1 4
5
2

Performance

further savings on price without compromising
the quality of the service. During the year our
delivery remained at 100% gas servicing
compliance.
Effective cross-departmental working ensures
that all relevant teams play a part in ensuring
we gain access to tenantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; properties in order
to maintain this vitally important
performance.

Our impressive performance owes
much to our long-standing and proactive partnering approach.
Following the re-procurement of our
responsive repairs service in 201314, we moved into a long term
partnering arrangement with local
contractors, Garfieldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. The contract
includes a pricing mechanism based
upon on a fixed price per property
for repairs and an average void cost
based upon architectural type. This
approach permits expenditure to be
predicted more accurately than the
use of other pricing methods such
as schedule of rates.

Over the last 5 years tenants have been
heavily involved in all aspects of shaping the
service. 2014/15 was no exception and
included involvement in contract
procurement, material specifications and
monthly contractor performance meetings, all
of which help to maintain our high standards
and tackle any emerging issues.

The introduction of further batching
of repair jobs means that the service
can run more efficiently. Greater
analysis of jobs by type and volume
is beginning to establish repair
trends that will help to identify
where preventative maintenance
measures could be put in place.
Gas servicing activities are a high
profile and important area of
scheduled maintenance activity.
In 2014/15
we retendered
our gas
servicing
contract
and made
*estimated
10

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review :

Responsive Repairs
and Void Works
Value for Money Appraisal

‘making a positive
difference to people’s
lives and our
communities’

This area of service activity continues to be in the top quartile of peer group
performance and even of larger organisations.
Re-procurement has ensured that costs have risen below the rate of inflation, and as the
number of properties in management increases next year, we expect to see unit costs
decline.

Performance Improvements
Whilst our responsive repair and void service continues to be a high performing, low cost
service, our focus is upon enhancing what we already do.
To look at ways in which we can continue to improve, we shall continue to hold monthly
Maintenance Advisory Panel meetings with residents and our main contractors, reviewing
all aspects of asset management to monitor performance against target.
Satisfaction of the repairs service will continue to be measured, to ensure we are
delivering what our tenants want and to the standard they expect through:Telephone surveys made to 10% of residents who have had a repair completed.
Feedback from over 80 resident representatives acting as Volume Controllers for
the sites they live.
Feedback from members of the Maintenance Advisory Panel (MAP) and Axiom
Residents’ Forum (ARF).
Our SAP ratings remain top quartile, with our properties enjoying high levels of energy
efficiency; however we are actively engaged in the advanced project stages for the
installation of photo-voltaic panels on as many suitable properties as possible before the
scheduled cut in solar energy ‘Feed in Tariffs’ takes place in January 2016.
We continue to
implement our Asset
Management
Strategy which
includes the disposal
of properties that
were built pre–1945
and have low rate of
return (see also
Section 6: Return on
Assets).

11

Good
Performance
High Cost
1

Poor
Performance
High Cost

Performance

2

Cost

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review :

Rent Arrears
and Collection

Poor
Performance
Low Cost

Against a backdrop of welfare reform,
performance in the area of current arrears
management remains excellent.
In our report last year, we anticipated that we
would see an adverse trend across the sector
for arrears with the introduction of Welfare
Reform laying the foundation for roll out of
Universal Credit. However, through our
proactive and targeted service delivery, backed
up by process improvements designed to
mitigate against increased exposure to bad
debts and rent arrears, we have been able to
achieve a strong performance again this year,
generating a greater Value for Money offering to
our residents and stakeholders.

3

4

5 Good
Performance
Low Cost

Performance

At the end of the 2014/15 financial year there
were 1.98% of current rent arrears
outstanding.
In April 2013 we saw the advent of the Under
Occupation Charge. Through our intensive
support programme and clear and targeted
communications strategy, we can report that,
after two years of the Under Occupation Charge
being in place, 93.22% of the affected
residents are ‘staying and paying’. The number
of people under-occupying fell during this time
from 198 households down to 123.
Our former tenant arrears improvement
programme has continued at pace. This work
commenced during the last quarter of 2013/14
and was a primary focal point of our
improvement plan for 2014/15. Following the
former tenant arrears review we have
embedded a new procedure for recovery during
2014/15 and we are
2011/12
starting to see an
improvement in
Cost per property
£135
Median
£132
performance that we
shall be looking to
Benchmark
Q3
report on in 2015/16.
Forecast increases in management costs as a
result of added tenant support during this
period triggered an operational review of the
separate Housing and Income Management
teams, following which, we streamlined our
management structure, and from June 2014,
became a housing operations team.
The new Housing Operations Team retains
individual expertise in certain specialisms, but
has facilitated wider delivery of common
activities, thus enabling greater efficiency and
effectiveness in operations.

12

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

£142
£141

£138
£157

£156
£157

£145
£157

Q3

Q2

Q2

Q2*

*Estimated

With the plan for the national roll of
Universal Credit having been published we
have established a Universal Credit
Operations Group to promote a wholesystems approach to Universal Credit and
direct payments. The effectiveness of our
preparations will be assessed by a planned
audit in November 2015, by our retained
auditors Mazars. Our previous audit in
2013 highlighted that we were sector
leads in the depth and understanding
contained in our preparations.

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review :

Rent Arrears and Collection
Value for Money Appraisal

Planned Improvements

Greater investment in support and
advocacy has enabled us to achieve
historically good rent arrears performance
whilst being able to report low operating
costs.

We believe that our approach of
gathering greater intelligence, targeted
support campaigns and resource
mapping have us well placed to respond
to the impact of welfare reforms and the
further roll out of Universal Credit.

Preventative partnerships and community
events have been an important
component to our investment in the wider
community. We have been working with
the following organisations:
‘Making Money Count’ team in
Fenland and their digital bus service
‘Digital Drive’ bus service for
Peterborough.
‘StepChange’ national debt charity.
‘Referent’ Peterborough based web
referral system.
Rainbow Savers Credit Union.
Citizens Advice Bureau.
Axiom Academy - Axiom’s in-house
training provider.
Our in-house income advisor has played a
key role in developing these partnerships
which in turn has directly benefited our
more vulnerable residents. Throughout
2014/15 she has supported 63 residents
and assisted them to maximise their
income by a total of £188,000 of which
£86,000 was directly attributable to
Housing Benefit, resulting in tenancy
sustainment.
We recognised that the restructuring of
our Housing and Income Teams would
result in a short term increase in costs
per property in 2014/15. However, we
remain confident that the restructure will
return longer term economies of
approximately £20,000 per year from
2015/16 with our forecast cost per
property reducing from £156 to
£145 per property.

13

In 2015/16 we shall be implementing the
remaining changes following the former
tenant arrears review and driving targets
for improved performance. The most
significant change to take place to our
working practices throughout 2015/16
will be the implementation of mobile
working technology. With the national
roll out of Universal Credit now in place,
we fully understand the need to be able
to ‘take the office out onto the road’ and
meet those most in need where they
live.
We are confident that the move to
mobile working will yield improvements
in performance, staff efficiency and
satisfaction with our service. There will
be significant cost avoidance as this
‘invest to save’ initiative will reduce the
demand for increased staffing in the
future.
A series of other system upgrades are
also scheduled to take place throughout
2015/16 which, alongside mobile
working, will improve the way in which
we currently work and result in more
efficient and cost effective practices
going forward; these include
improvements to:
our contact management system;
customer relations module;
our text messaging facility; and
the introduction of more automated
workflow processes.
Maintaining our Quartile 1 position for
current rent arrears performance
remains our prime operational objective
and we believe that we are in a good
position to achieve this again for
2015/16. Continued focus on former
tenant arrears will also remain a priority
with our improvement programme aimed
at bring this area of performance into
Quartile 1.

Performance
A full service review has been carried in
this key area of our work. The review was
undertaken in conjunction with anti-social
behaviour (ASB) consultants.
Central to the review was an assessment
of our implementation of recommendations arising from an internal audit review
undertaken in February 2015.

Good
Performance
High Cost

Poor
Performance
High Cost

Cost

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review :

Anti-social behaviour

4
3 5
Poor
Performance
Low Cost

Good
Performance
Low Cost
1

2

Performance

A new policy and revised procedures have
been developed to respond to poor
satisfaction results returned within the
STAR Survey 2014. This survey revealed
that just 44% of tenants stated that they
were satisfied with the outcome of their
ASB complaint and 51% were satisfied
with how it had been dealt with. This
feedback was in stark contrast to our own
quarterly satisfaction survey results on
ASB (plotted in the graph opposite) which
typically return a 25% higher satisfaction
rating.
The new procedures have built upon the
positive relationships with our local
authority partners to use new tools which
came into force with the new Crime &
Policing Act (October 2014). This included
a more person-centred, harm-reductionist
approach to ASB case management; their
effectiveness will be continuously
measured against a new set of Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs).
To support these changes all key frontline
staff were provided with relevant training
upon the ASB policy and procedures, plus
the introduction of a new ASB quality
assurance and compliance framework to
identify any areas of poor performance or
non-compliance.

14

Early indications are that our new
approach is being well received by
victims of ASB, with an improvement in
satisfaction results.

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review :

Anti-social behaviour
Value for Money
Appraisal
Our unit cost per property for
ASB had traditionally been
very low. In 2013/14 more
resources were allocated to
this area and it is through the
introduction of new
procedures, and more
integrated working across our
housing team that we aim to
maintain costs in Quartile 2
while improved service
outcomes are achieved.

Planned
Improvements

Following a recent review our of Housing and
Income Management Teams, we are now
retaining the services of a specialist ASB
officer. This, and the implementation of the
new policy and procedures, mean we
anticipate an improvement within our
customer ASB satisfaction results going
forward.
During 2014/15 we have also:
Revived our membership on local multiagency partnerships and networking
forums to share best practice and liaise
with key professionals who can support and
advise on the resolution of complex cases.
Resourced free training from relevant
police departments and have been able to
negotiate free housing law updates for our
staff, delivered by one of our retained
solicitors.
Set up quarterly in-house ‘round table’
sessions to share best practice.
Continued to undertake qualitative peer
comparisons at free Chartered Institute of
Housing ‘lunch and learn’ sessions.
Introduced the use of ‘ECINS’, an electronic
information sharing tool, that has enabled
staff to share best practice and review
cases with external partners saving
significant time and money consequently
reducing cross organisation duplication on
the more complex cases.
For more complex cases of ASB we have
utilised consultancy services for advice and
negotiated rates which are up to £130 per
hour cheaper than contacting a solicitor.

15

We are committed to ensuring
that there are continued
improvements in this service area
and to this end we will continue
with the following planned
improvements:
We have instructed our
retained auditors Mazars to
undertake quarterly
compliance checks of this
service area; we will
implement any
recommendations accordingly.
Weekly case monitoring with
immediate teams.
Attendance at all relevant ASB
groups and forums.
Retain membership at the ASB
best practice HouseMark Club.
We have also identified the need
for continued training and
employment of the full
functionality of our contact
management system.
We will be working with our
system providers to upgrade and
configure the contact manager
module to support our new policy
and procedures.
This will provide a more efficient
and streamlined service to assist
the team in achieving the new
KPI’s.

Cost

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review :

Major Works and
Cyclical Maintenance
Performance
We continue to invest in the quality of
our homes as part of our corporate
strategy. The energy efficiency levels
within our stock meets highest
standards.

Poor
Performance
High Cost

Good
Performance
High Cost
5
3 4
2
1

Poor
Performance
Low Cost

Good
Performance
Low Cost

Performance

We understand the importance of good
quality accommodation for our
residents and in recent years have
invested almost £3 million per year in
planned and major works and
replacing the component parts of
properties – kitchens, bathrooms,
heating, windows and doors. Whilst
the totality of this investment places
the association in Quartile 3 of annual
costs per property, it helps to keep
responsive maintenance expenditure
low and makes a positive difference to
the quality of life for our residents.
We continue to have high levels of
satisfaction with the quality of major
work completed with almost 95% of
residents being satisfied with the work
and how it was carried out.
2014/15 was the first year of our
major works partnering contract with
our new providers and we have
successfully managed the transition,
establishing positive new relationships
and implementing different and more
efficient ways of working.

This enables us to model our future major
works programmes to evaluate the
optimum stock investment profiles over
the life of our business plan.
Our stock condition survey is updated at a
rate of 20% of properties each year on a
rolling programme, so we always have
good quality and up to date information to
model.
Following the July 2015 emergency
budget, we have utilised our modelling
capability to propose the deferral of
approximately £1.7m of previously
planned and improvement works over the
4 years of proposed rent cuts, for rephasing delivery over 11 years to 2027.
This plan will enable us to continue to
retain all of our homes at decent homes
standard, whilst balancing with other
investment priorities.

During 2014/15 we also invested in
‘Scenario Planner’, a software product
linked to our housing management
database, to plan our major works
programmes.

16

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review :

Major Works and
Cyclical Maintenance
Value for Money
Appraisal
The re-procurement process for major
works last year meant that we
significantly reduced the price we paid
for new kitchens and bathrooms to be
fitted. We achieved costs savings of
18%, almost ÂŁ500 per kitchen/
bathroom, and we did so without
detriment to overall quality.
Our new contractor was able to
achieve these savings via more
efficient use of the supply chain and
their greater purchasing power as they
deliver a number of contracts across
the region.
Over the year we have made ÂŁ95,000
worth of savings as a direct result of
our procurement processes over the
last two years.

Planned
Improvements

We expect to make similar savings
through each year of the contract.
We continue to have monthly meetings
between the contractors and our
Maintenance Advisory Panel (a
resident involvement group), and
these meetings have proved invaluable
in establishing and monitoring the
maintenance of quality standards.

In 2015/16 we shall be completing
extensive improvements to Beech Court,
the largest of our traditional sheltered
housing schemes.
This project marked the beginning of a 9
year plan to revitalise aspects of each of
our sheltered schemes.

Having entered into a five year
contract, with fixed prices (subject
only to an annual inflationary increase)
we are in a good position to maintain
our quality service provision and to
control costs for several years.

As a result of the rent cuts within the
2015 emergency budget, it is likely that
the timescale of projects will be
extended. However, the general high
quality of our housing stock means that
the necessary scaling back of major
works will not threaten decent home
standards.
In the coming year we will consider at
the potential to enter into a major works
partnering arrangement for replacement
doors and windows.

17

4 Poor
Performance
High Cost

A Choice Based Lettings (CBL) service
operates in Peterborough and across the
Cambridgeshire sub-region (via the Homelink
service), covering East Cambridgeshire,
Huntingdonshire and Fenland.
CBL is also operating in West Lindsey. The
only area in which we operate where there is
a traditional allocation system is in South
Kesteven).

Cost

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review :

Lettings

Good
Performance
High Cost
5 2
3

1

Poor
Performance
Low Cost

Good
Performance
Low Cost

Performance

Performance
At the end of the first half of the 2014/15
financial year, we experienced a surge in
the number of properties becoming
vacant and the resultant peak in void
properties affected performance in void
losses and re-let periods.
The reasons for this increase were
manifold including:
greater numbers of residents
downsizing to escape underoccupation penalties;
an increased volume of new housing
developments coming on stream in
the local Peterborough area; and
a significant reduction in numbers
eligible in to register on the local
housing list.

‘making a positive
difference to
people’s lives and our
communities’

18

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review :

Lettings
Value for Money
Appraisal

Planned
Improvements

Benchmarked peer group
performance in this area of
activity had been relatively
unchanged since 2011/12.

In 2014, the Resident Scrutiny Panel
undertook a review of voids in
comparison with other peer
associations.

The uncharacteristic surge in
vacant properties during 2014/15
proved hard to recover and was
exacerbated by the handover of
38 new housing units in March
2015 which increased the
percentage of vacant properties
recorded at year end. As this is
another contributory measure of
performance used by HouseMark
to assess VFM, it is expected that
performance levels may dip to
Quartile 4 in the 2014/15 report,
but we expect them to return to
normalised levels in 2015/16.

The panel focused upon the quality
of the re-let accommodation and
resident satisfaction, but took into
account the wider context of
delivering VFM through efficient
processes and shortened turn
around periods.
The agreed action plan has begun to
be implemented 2014/15 and void
losses are projected to reduce in
2015/16.
Key aspects of the plan are set out
below:
greater autonomy over
allocations into our Extra Care
schemes, reducing re-let
periods;

The average cost per property for
this activity increased in 2014/15
due to a rise in costs associated
with CBL schemes and following a
significantly higher turnover in
properties.

Performance
Following the restructure of the
Housing and Income Teams we
allocated housing patches for each of
our Housing and Income Officers.
Following our second STAR survey in
the summer of 2014, we can report
that taking everything into
consideration, 88% of residents
are satisfied with the service
provided by Axiom. This is 1% down
on the rating from two years
previously, but is considered within
statistical norms and not a cause for
concern.

Good
Performance
High Cost

Poor
Performance
High Cost
Cost

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review :

Tenancy Management

2
4
1
Poor
Performance
Low Cost

3
5

Performance

Benchmarked performance for
tenancy management services is
assessed by HouseMark using the
annual percentage of tenancy
turnover, the percentage of evictions
and overall satisfaction percentage.
Recognising that we have a relatively
high proportion of turnover in
comparison with our peers due to the
nature of our property portfolio, we
have undertaken a series of
measures over recent years aiming
to reduce this.
These measures have brought about
some downward movement as
shown by the graph opposite, but
changes arising from the 2015
emergency budget such as means
testing and the introduction of a
housing benefit cap may lead to
increased rates of property turnover
over time which we are preparing
for.

20

Good
Performance
Low Cost

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review :

Tenancy Management
Value for Money
Appraisal

Planned
Improvements

Following a comprehensive
review and restructure of the
Housing and Income
Management Teams, in June
2014 there has been an
increase in costs in tenancy
management shown for
2014/15.

Our Simplicity Review on voids will
continue into 2015/16 and will
have input from the Housing
Management Panel: a monthly
forum comprised of staff and
residents reviewing performance
across a number of key
performance indicators.

We recognised that this would
be a short term consequence
of the restructure, however
the change was necessary to
reduce our overheads in the
longer term by introducing
more efficient and effective
practices going forward.

Implementation of former tenants’
arrears review: looking at
termination of tenancy processes.
Implementation of ‘Making Every
Contact Count’ strategy: looking at
more holistic ‘one team’ customer
service approach.
Use of and upgrade of housing
management system to better
support ‘one team’ ethos and
extract greater efficiencies.
Mobile working will be introduced
in 2015/16. This is a major feature
of our strategies for operational
management going forward over
the next 5 years.
We believe we will see a real
change in the way we deliver our
services to our tenants and as well
as avoiding the costs of additional
staff will enhance the resident
experience and provide a more
efficient way of working.

‘making a positive
difference to
people’s lives and our
communities’

21

Poor
Performance
High Cost

Performance
Our service panels comprise of staff and
residents and are designed to scrutinise
and challenge performance, agree targets
and
monitor
progress
against
business
plan
objectives
and
customer
satisfaction
levels.
A number
of panels have undertaken procurement
exercises over the last few years, with the
procurement of our gas servicing contract
being undertaken by the Maintenance
Advisory Panel (MAP) in 2014/15. This
exercise resulted in securing an initial
projected saving of ÂŁ70,000 over a 5 year
period over the previous budget, with a
potential for this to increase to ÂŁ140,000 if
the contract is extended. In addition, our
residents played a key role in opening up
discussions under our new gas servicing
contract regarding apprenticeships for
school leavers.
Our Housing Management Panel has also
undertaken an in-depth review of our
service-charge setting process with the
aim of improved procedural efficiencies
and greater transparency; this is a direct
response to tenant satisfaction with
service charges reducing by 2% from our
results in the 2012 survey and we shall be
testing our performance again in the 2016
STAR survey.
Our Scrutiny Panel undertook two service
reviews during 2014/15, one being on
access to information and the second
being on complaints. All Scrutiny Panel
reviews have a key focus on Value for
Money and both reviews have led to
process and system
improvement
recommendations that
have saved officer time
and informed policy and
procedure development
to improve satisfaction.
22

5
Good
4 3
Performance
High Cost
1 2

Cost

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review :

Resident
Involvement

Poor
Performance
Low Cost

Performance

Good
Performance
Low Cost

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review:

Resident Involvement
Value for Money Appraisal
The association employs a dedicated Resident
Involvement Co-ordinator to oversee a range
of resident involvement initiatives each year.
Whilst this approach places our comparable
costs in the lower quartile of peer
benchmarks, we view our ability to involve
and engage residents in a meaningful way
across a broad range of our activities as a
genuine strength.
Our most recent resident conference (October
2014) was attended by just over 130
residents who returned overall satisfaction
levels of 98.4% with the day.
Our quarterly monitoring statistics reveal that
we are typically able to engage around 15%
of tenants in some form of resident
involvement activity.
The cornerstone of our approach is couched
within our operational services panel
framework which includes the following
service panels:
Disability User Group.
Housing Management Panel.
Community Improvement Panel.
Compliments and Complaints Panel.
Gas Servicing and Responsive repairs.
A key element of our resident involvement is
our on-the-ground auditors, referred to as our
‘Volume Controllers’. Volume Controllers rate
our services on a quarterly basis from the
perspective of someone living in the
community. Their regular feedback has
proved to be a key customer feedback tool in
resident satisfaction levels throughout our
areas of operation at very low cost.
We regard our actively involved residents as
‘internal consultants’ and whilst our relatively
low number of properties reveals that our
costs in this area do not always compare
favourably to our benchmark peers; our
Board of Management believe that investing
in our residents in this way remains
fundamental to good management and we are
committed to continuing to direct resources at
this important activity.
Our 2014 STAR survey revealed that 74% of
residents believe that Axiom listens to their
views and acts upon them.
23

Planned
Improvements
September 2015 will see a new era
for resident involvement with the new
Residents’ Services Committee being
established following a Governance
restructure. The new committee will
reside alongside four other Board
committees and the new approach
will provide a closer link between the
Board of Management and the work
of the operational service panels.
We have applied for accreditation
with the Tenant Participation Advisory
Service (TPAS) for our resident
involvement work. We are confident
we will achieve this quality mark and
will continue to work with TPAS to
devise methodologies which will allow
us to extract tangible Value for Money
returns in this key area of our work.
We will be reviewing our approach to
scrutiny, including resourcing and
supporting the panel more efficiently,
embedding a standardised Value for
Money framework within all
investigations and evidencing those
returns when completing
assessments.
We will produce a clear ‘return on
investment’ statement annually for
each of our service panels and
resident involvement associated
activities.
We will also be developing our
engagement strategies through
the use of social media, which we
envisage will attract a more
diverse cohort of residents whilst
reducing our operational costs. As
part of this we will make better
use of e-communications with
actively involved residents.
We will also maximise the use of
technology to support a reduction in
mileage costs and to link this with our
wider Value for Money strategy.
We will also link more closely our
resident involvement priorities with
our welfare reform and community
development programmes.

Poor
Performance
High Cost

Estate Services comprise of a range of
different activities that combine to ensure
that the appearance of our properties is
always good and that residents live in an
attractive and welcoming environment.
We provide an in-house grounds
maintenance service and provide cleaning
services to communal areas. The absence
of graffiti, regular and tidy waste
collections, minimisation of fly tipping,
repairing fences and walls are all factors
that contribute to well run estates.

Good
Performance
High Cost

1
2

3 5
4

Cost

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review:

Estate Services

Poor
Performance
Low Cost

Good
Performance
Low Cost

Performance

Costs are projected to increase in 2015/16
following a reallocation of management
resources.

Performance
Neighbourhood satisfaction is measured
across a broad range of factors.
Our overall performance has been reported
through the STAR survey at 84% and we
shall be again testing this aspect of our
service in our 2016 STAR survey.
One element of our neighbourhood service
is our grounds maintenance service. There
has been a downward trend of costs of this
service over the last three years, due to
sharing the management responsibility
across wider estate services.

In this area we have tried different
more cost effective solutions, such as
resurfacing with slurry seal where the
traffic of pedestrians is relatively light
rather than an expensive tarmac
solution. Slurry seal is only 30% of
the cost of a full tarmac solution and
allows three times the level of work to
be completed at the original price.

Our Community Improvement Panel (CIP)
invests over ÂŁ100,000 per year in estate
improvement projects that improve the
appearance of our communities. This is a
resident-led group who highlight the
priority areas across all our portfolio of
properties and then commission work to be
carried out. Over the last 5 years more
than 200 separate items of work have been
completed.

We have an in-house electrician who
attends to many jobs that arise in
communal areas as well as PAT testing
and making sure electrical appliances
are safe. We also test in-house
legionella in communal areas and
these in-house teams offer greater
flexibility and the ability to work across
different areas of our services
according to needs and priorities.

We also have a programme of resurfacing
and maintaining car parks that were
showing signs of wear and tear.

These are all better value for money
than using external contractors for this
high volume low return style of work.

24

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review:

Estate Services
Value for Money Appraisal
Whilst our major works
programmes have focused on
windows, kitchens, bathrooms and
heating systems, we also invest in
the infrastructure of our estates,
that is the roads, pavements,
fencing, walls etc.

Planned
Improvements
During 2015/16 we are planning a
range of improvements:
our Scrutiny Panel will carry
out a scrutiny review of our
grounds maintenance service;

These are the things that make an
immediate impact and a first
impression and contribute to
residentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; well-being with where
they live and affects other areas of
residentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; satisfaction.

we will continue our work on
anti-social behaviour which
can impact this area through
prompt attention to fly tipping
and graffiti;

We have seen a reduction in
resident satisfaction with their
neighbourhood over the past three
years, from a peak of 87% down
to a more modest 84%.

our Estate Services team will
be the subject of a wider
review of how they operate
and how we can maximise the
benefits that residents obtain
from their service;

The service remains in the good
performance quadrant with the
challenge being to make inroads
into the higher cost elements of
estate services.

we will look at how estate
services are delivered in our
sheltered schemes and
supported housing projects;
and
we will continue to invest in
the Community Improvements
that are lead by our residents
with an increased emphasis on
improvements that deliver real
and tangible benefits for
residents.

New arbour at Moorside Court: CIP project

Committed
Caring
Creative

25

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review:

Supported Housing
and other support
services
Our Supported Housing and other
support services continued to
achieve positive outcomes in a
challenging cost environment in
2014/15.
In 2013/14 we implemented a significant
staffing restructure to adapt to significant
reductions in funding.
Our supported services are now delivering
through a different operating model and
continued to achieve over 75% of positive
outcomes for clients, a real Value for
Money achievement both in cost per client
and Social Value outcomes.
There were several key achievements
during the year:
retaining all our support contracts in
Lincolnshire;
the commissioning of a new move-on
accommodation facility in
Peterborough;
new mental health accommodation in
Peterborough;
the building of a new young persons
foyer in Gainsborough;
the start of the planning of a new
foyer in Melton Mowbray (a new area
of operation);
the start of a new service working with
private landlords to re-house
homeless people;
the completion of the home-fromhospital project to rehouse homeless
people after hospital stays;
the start of the Healthy Conversations
initiative in our foyers to improve the
eating habits of young people; and
starting a severe weather programme
service for rough sleepers to ensure
they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spend nights outside in
adverse weather.

26

Healthy Conversations Event: Peterborough Foyer

Our Mental Health Outreach Service
continued to expand and offer the
service more widely in
Huntingdonshire.
At the end of the year this service
was supporting over 70 mental
health clients to retain their
independence and live with support
in the local community.
The service is well regarded by
commissioners delivering cost
savings to the public purse. For
example, the maintenance of the
independence of our clients in the
community prevents the significantly
greater costs of their hospitalisation.
The Lincolnshire support contracts
were an excellent example of the
Value for Money principles we adopt
in supported housing.
As a high quality smaller provider we
joined a consortia that meant we are
able to bid competitively across the
County for our whole range of
services. We retained all our existing
services and won additional
contracts.
Following a VFM review, we assessed
that the resources required to deliver
the smallest and most remote
Lincolnshire services were
uneconomic and therefore would be
best achieved by more locally based
members of the consortia. We
therefore decided to transfer these
contracts to them.

Section 3

Value for Money Service Review:

Supported Housing
and other support
services
Value for Money Appraisal
Supported Housing is one of our best
examples of where our investment
provides a demonstrable Value for Money
return both for commissioners and for
service users.
Our services have expanded over the
year with no increase in management
overhead.
We have reduced direct costs of support
provision but maintained the previous
levels of positive outcomes for service
users.
We have also been providing additional
services that have contributed to our
income whilst also implementing new
services and undertaking different

27

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Supported Housing is
one of our best
examples of where our
investment provides a
demonstrable Value for
Money return.â&#x20AC;?

initiatives. For example, our work with
the private rented sector and the
severe weather emergency
accommodation.
Changemaker House is our former
main office now converted into moveon flats for young people. This
scheme is being revenue funded by
Peterborough City Council and there is
a pathway in place for residents to
move out of Peterborough Foyer and
into Changemaker House.
There is specific focus on supporting
care leavers by this route that will
provide major cost savings to our
Commissioners.

Section 4

Overheads & Operating Efficiency:

Overhead Costs & Operating Efficiency
In July 2012 the Homes and
Communities Agency (HCA)
published its report ‘Understanding
Unit Costs of Housing Providers:
Regression Analysis’.
This report examined the impact of
various factors upon the unit costs of
delivery within the sector. In particular it
identified that the provision of Supported

Housing was the most important
differentiating factor in comparative costs.
The analysis quantified the average
additional costs associated with Supported
Housing to be £7,000 per unit per annum
and £1,400 per unit per annum for Housing
for Older Persons.
Using this data we continue to compare our
net operating costs per unit to the HCA’s
national average benchmarks from 2010 to
2015, as illustrated in the chart below:

A comparison of operating margin efficiency with peer group associations that have a
similar level of older persons/supported activity to ourselves reveal that despite the yearon-year improvement in operating margin there is room to improve further.

28

Section 4

Overheads & Operating Efficiency:

Overhead Costs & Operating Efficiency
Due to our continued investment in technology and non-accommodation based
services, overheads per unit continue to grow in comparison to units owned and
managed.
The charts below show the actual and predicted trends in our total overheads and
overheads per unit since 2012-13:

Incremental growth in finance costs occurred in 2014-15 to accommodate additional
accounting activities related to the transfer of control of Axiom Crossroads Care.
In 2015-16 our plans include a significant investment in mobile working technology to
support the increased demands on housing and maintenance teams to support more
efficient and effective working and avoid additional human resource demands expected
from new developments, welfare reform and growing care and support activities.
Compared to group turnover and direct costs, and the ratio of central overhead costs
has reduced and we project this will continue to fall in the current financial year.

Each year we set
targets to control
overhead expenditure,
during 2014-15
overhead expenditure
was curtailed by 2.7%
of budgeted spend (a
ÂŁ60,000 saving
compared to a target
of ÂŁ51,000.

Continued on page 30
29

Section 4

Overheads and Operating Efficiency:

Overhead Costs and Operating Efficiency
Operating margin performance is tracked as an overall measure of
financial business improvement and has been improving year on year,
with internal targets set to continue this trend into the new financial
year.
In 2015-16 our care subsidiary will deliver its first operating surplus
contribution to group surplus, however the lower operating margin of
this activity will have the impact of reducing the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operating
margin by approximately 2%.

From April 2016, planned rent reductions in the sector risk reducing our operating
margins by approximately 1.5% per annum. During 2015-16 however we shall be
implementing proposed mitigating actions that will preserve group performance to
within a minimum margin of 20% by 2020.

Actions from last year
The association has undertaken a comprehensive programme of VFM initiatives realising
actual and anticipated future gains and cash savings in excess of our target of 6.2% of
annual operating costs (net of depreciation). Actual gains in 2014-15 exceeded last
yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anticipated total by ÂŁ60,300.

Full details of the cost and efficiency gains are given in Appendix 1.

Planned Improvements
At the time of publication of this report a comprehensive review of all areas of overhead
expenditure is being undertaken to mitigate the adverse impact upon operating margin
performance in response to the proposed social housing rent cuts to be introduced from
April 2016.
30

Section 5

Delivering & Measuring Social Value:

Delivering and measuring Social Value
We have made real progress in
measuring Social Value over the course
of the last 12 months.
Our Operations Director has taken
responsibility for our approach and as a
result we have taken a number of steps to
embed Social Value into our wider work
whilst also producing our first ever Social
Value report that focuses on the work of
Axiom Academy in delivering skills, learning
and development to vulnerable people.
Social Value is a key part of our work. We
have a diverse range of services that
positively impact on the lives of residents
and service users. In the early part of 2014
we embarked on our Social Value journey
with our ultimate aims being to tangibly
demonstrate both the value we provide and
how we generate that value to
commissioners, individuals and the public
purse.
We initially took a parallel approach. We
commenced a project with Peterborough
City Council to devise a methodology for
assessing Social Value in the services we
provide to young people. In particular we
wanted to look at the work we were doing
with young care leavers (a priority group
within the City) as we were developing some
new accommodation for care leavers by
refurbishing our old offices.
This project is assessing at what Social
Value can be derived over a longer period.
So whilst we are interested in the short term
results, we really want to see the impact of
our interventions over a longer period and
how sustainable the effect of our work has
been.
In Axiom Academy our approach focused on
the value generated by the delivery of its
learning services. For every £1 spent by
Axiom Academy we were able to show that
it generated £8 of Social Value.
The study looked at the courses undertaken
and the value attributed to those individual
activities. We used two main sources of
information: The Global Value exchange and
HACT well being calculations; both well
known and respected sources of data.
The value fell into three areas – the fiscal
value, the value to the individual and the
well-being value to the individual.
We assessed people who had been
recipients of the Academy’s services and the

31

values that had been generated by their
learning and development activities. For
an investment of £940 we generated a
Social Value of almost £8,000 per person;
the values included enabling people to
enter employment, making positive
changes in their education and also took
into account the ‘dead weight’ that can
apply when attributing Social Value
metrics.
We also have a number of case studies
arising from the study which demonstrate
in practical terms the impact on people’s
lives and in their own right, the case
studies are examples of Social Value.
We are continuing our work on Social
Value in 2015/16:
Social Value is now one of our
corporate objectives. It sits alongside
Value for Money in raising its
awareness and being conscious of the
Social Value we provide in different
areas of our work.
We are developing a Social Value
Policy. This will set out our
commitment to achieving and
measuring Social Value.
We are continuing our work on care
leavers, but will also be looking to
demonstrate the Social Value that we
achieve in Axiom Crossroads Care, our
in-house care provider. In particular
we shall be looking at the impact we
have in our extra care schemes with
specific reference to the savings we
can make to the health service, the
prevention of slips, trips and falls, and
the number of interventions that have
to be made by the health sector. We
believe that there is significant value
in this area of our work.
Social Value is now an intrinsic part of our
day to day operations with 2015/16
building on the work we have completed in
the last 12 months.

Return on Assets
Each year the Board considers the capacity of the business plan to fund
growth and development by reinvesting surpluses into new services and
housing stock.

Return on Assets:

Section 6

The association reviewed its objectives to increase the supply of affordable housing and
meet its three year target to build or acquire 132 new homes by March 2018 with an
average yield of 4% per annum.
The level of investment allocated to housing and new business development is established
through a process of rigorous financial planning after allotting appropriate resources to
planned improvements, core service
improvements and maintenance
commitments.
In July 2013 the Board approved its
updated Asset Management Strategy,
which included plans to accelerate the
existing programme of disposal of older
and uneconomic stock.
This will serve both to avoid uneconomic
future maintenance liabilities and to
increase the overall thermal efficiency of
the stock (by replacing older stock with
new, energy efficient properties).
Sales proceeds from disposals are applied
to supporting new development and to
funding improvements to sheltered and
supported schemes and estates
infrastructure.
Key ratios for the operating and net returns on assets are measured and projected to
ensure that asset growth is achieved in a sustainable way generating income streams for
reinvestment in the future. Due to our size the phasing of new developments may lead to
a short-term deterioration in performance that recovers once assets are fully
commissioned.
The table below illustrates the actual and anticipated profile arising from new
developments in 2014-15 and beyond and how this may be impacted by the proposed rent
reductions without remedial action:

32

Return on Assets
In 2013-14 we reported upon our approach for monitoring the returns delivered across
our housing stock by asset type and location.
During 2014-15 we have seen an improvement in overall returns increasing from
10.7% to 11.4%.

Return on Assets:

Section 6

The table below shows the summary of net rental returns on capital employed by
accommodation type for the last two financial years.

Net Rental Net Capital
Returns Employed

Accommodation Type

2014-15 2013-14
Return Return
%
%

General Needs

£

4.06m

£ 35.01m

11.6%

10.9%

Older Persons

£

1.46m

£ 14.29m

10.2%

9.5%

Supported: Young Persons Foyers

£

0.30m

£

1.25m

24.0%

22.1%

Supported: Hostels and Other

£

0.28m

£

2.46m

11.4%

12.3%

Stock identified for disposal

£

0.15m

£

1.98m

7.8%

8.1%

Combined Net Rental Returns (before overhead)

£

6.25m

£ 54.99m

11.4%

10.7%

Fluctuations of return on assets year on year can be caused by repairs and voids
experience.
In order to identify emerging issues, we continue to monitor the annual financial
performance of our housing stock by scheme or estate and to compare performance
with the previous year.
As summarised in
the chart
opposite, there
has been a
general
improvement in
return on assets
to 10% and
above.
Stock identified
for disposal is
separately
displayed and is
net of any future
investment
requirements.
Each disposal
remains subject
to individual VFM
analysis and
Board approval.
Continued on page 34
33

Return on Assets
As set out in last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s report, in 2014/15 we undertook a detailed analysis of internal
benchmarks of asset performance which we then mapped against net rental returns by housing scheme/estate.

Return on Assets:

Section 6

Quality indicators of thermal efficiency, resident satisfaction and stock turnover have now
been used to categorise housing assets meeting, exceeding or failing our internal benchmark
target.

The analysis confirmed that 24 of the housing properties identified for potential disposal
had quality indicators meeting target, it also revealed a different 20 units that fell short
of target performance levels during the year.
In each instance the circumstance of the shortfall in performance has been identified
and will be monitored so that upon re-let an option appraisal can be undertaken to
determine the most efficient use of the asset going forward.

Following the Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s announcement on 8 July 2015 of its intention
to change the rent indexing model from CPI +1% to a reduction in
existing rents by 1% per annum from 2016 to 2020, the way we monitor
return on assets will also be impacted, and we shall work during 2015/16
to identify appropriate revised benchmark targets of asset performance.
.

34

Acquisition and development of new
homes: Section 7

Acquisitions and development of new homes
Our 2015–2018
development programme
is based on our success in
securing HCA grant for a
diverse range of schemes
including:
Melton Mowbray Foyer
– 27 units with associated
training facilities;
Bassenhally extra care scheme
– 60 unit extra care scheme in
Fenland.
Paines Mill Foyer extension – 7
unit extension for single
homeless in Huntingdonshire;
Alconbury – disabled bungalow;
and
general needs for affordable
rent – 20 units in Peterborough.
All of these schemes secured grant
through a partnership approach and
a combination of subsidies to deliver
Value for Money both in the quality
of the scheme and the long term
social impact of the accommodation
and services provided.

Melton Foyer has been supported
by free land and a capital
contribution from the Local
Authority as well as HCA grant.
Bassenhally extra care scheme is
funded through a combination of
subsidised County Council land in
addition to HCA grant and recycled
grant contribution from Axiom.
With the exception of the general
needs housing in Peterborough all
of these schemes are supported
housing, providing a range of
housing, care and support services
to vulnerable people, in line with
our mission to ‘make a positive
difference to people’s lives and our
communities.’
However, even with innovative
funding, these schemes by their
nature are costly as they have
large circulation spaces and
shared amenities such as common
rooms and dining areas.
As part of our VFM assessment for
2015/16 we shall be reappraising
all of our development schemes
within our programme to test if
they can still be delivered in the
context of the rent reduction from
2016–2020 and engaging with the
HCA on options to input additional
RCGF and transferring grant from
one programme to another in line
with our strategic priorities.
The Board will also be reassessing
the capacity of Axiom’s finances to
support new housing development
growth and balance this with the
ongoing management and
maintenance priorities.

Gainsborough Foyer
35

Our embedded approach to
Value for Money improvements: Section 8

Our embedded approach to
Value for Money improvements
Our approach to Value for Money is embedded in a culture of seeking
efficiencies (both cost and process) and continuous improvement
throughout all our activities.
This is demonstrated in our 2015/20 Corporate Strategy, our business
plan, service plans and staff members’ individual appraisals.
The involvement of all staff in contributing ideas through their own
teams is essential to our business and staff’s performance is monitored
through regular 1-2-1’s as well as their annual appraisal.
With the support of the Performance & Improvement Committee the
Resident Scrutiny Panel provides a channel for tenant scrutiny and
influence over our day to day activities.
During 2014-15 the Resident Scrutiny Panel, Finance & Audit
Committee, Executive Team and staff have collectively identified a range
of measures to further embed Value for Money across the whole of our
operations.
From this work we have established a wide range of Value for Money
initiatives up the end of the 2015/16 financial year based on clear,
measurable and stretching objectives to further improve upon our
economy, efficiency and effectiveness across all aspects of our activities.
These are all documented on our nineteen service plans which are
monitored by our Executive Team, Performance & Improvement
Committee and Board of Management quarterly.
Following the completion of a comprehensive governance review, a
revised committee structure will be introduced from September 2015
devolving the work of the old Performance & Improvement Committee
across new committees for Residents’ Services, Care & Support,
Development & Assets and Finance & Audit.
The Board will also be appointing a Portfolio Holder from amongst its
members, to take a lead in the area of Value for Money and to work with
the Executive Team and other staff to help develop strategy and policy.

36

Appendix 1: cost and efficiencies analysis

37

Appendix 1: cost and efficiencies analysis

38

Our Mission
Our vision is to make
a positive difference
to peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives and our
communities.

Our Vision
To provide distinctive, integrated
housing, care and support services.
To inspire and empower our staff,
residents and communities.